University Of Colorado Students Charged In Pot Brownies Case

Nineteen-year-old Mary Elizabeth Essa and 21-year-old Thomas Ricardo Cunningham were charged with one count each of conspiracy to commit second-degree assault and conspiracy to induce consumption of a controlled substance, eight counts of second-degree assault, and eight counts of inducing the consumption of a controlled substance.

The two allegedly brought brownies laced with marijuana to class last week at the University of Colorado at Boulder and gave them to their unsuspecting classmates and professor. Eight people became sick from the brownies and three had to be hospitalized, investigators said.

Professor Celine Dauverd was one of the people who got sick.

“She was lapsing in and out of consciousness, and when the paramedics got there she was unable to walk,” History Department Chair Susan Kent said. “I’m sorry this happened. It is a reflection of some very irresponsible and reckless students, and I’m afraid a lot of people got hurt unnecessarily.”

According to Colorado statue, a person commits second-degree assault if “for a purpose other than lawful medical or therapeutic treatment, he intentionally causes stupor, unconsciousness, or other physical or mental impairment or injury to another person by administering to him, without his consent, a drug, substance or preparation capable of producing intended harm.”

A person commits inducing consumption of a controlled substance by “surreptitiously or by means of fraud, misrepresentation, suppression of truth, deception, or subterfuge, to cause any other person to unknowingly consume or receive the direct administration of any controlled substance.”

Essa and Cunningham were released on $5,000 bond and are due for arraignment on January 25.